I’m sure you’ve realized by now that the real sales world and classroom sales are nowhere near the same. So, how can you help your students bridge that gap and prepare them to succeed in the field? To help answer this, we invited Kim Rugerio, sales professor at Arizona State University (ASU). She’s here to share insights on transforming sales education and better equipping your students for the real world.

Meet Kim Rugerio

· Kim Rugiero is a trailblazer in sales education with over four decades of experience at industry leaders like AT&T and Verizon.

· After a successful corporate career, she brought her expertise to academia and launched Arizona State University’s first professional sales class nearly 18 years ago.

· Known for her dynamic, student-focused teaching style, Kim emphasizes confidence, creative outreach, and practical skills while encouraging students to engage with industry professionals and build valuable connections.

Building a Practical Sales Curriculum (00:02:23 - 00:03:40)

· Kim highlights the importance of bringing real-world experience into the classroom, creating a course that students consistently value for its practical approach.

Overcoming Self-Doubt and Building Confidence (00:03:41 - 00:05:35)

· She addresses common “sales reluctance” and structures her teams so students gain confidence early by reaching out to senior executives for interviews.

The Team Interview Project (00:05:35 - 00:07:12)

· Students work in groups to secure and interview senior sales leaders, while Kim guides them to ask creative, meaningful questions that go beyond the basics.

Breaking Sales Stereotypes and Facing Challenges (00:07:15 - 00:10:00)

· She discusses how these projects shift students’ perceptions of sales and helps them overcome confidence and outreach anxiety to be ready for real-world selling.

Success Stories: Unique Interview Wins (00:10:07 - 00:12:56)

· Kim shares standout student achievements, including interviews and live performances with executives at major companies, some leading directly to job offers.

The Power of Creative Outreach (00:12:56 - 00:15:12)

· She emphasizes research, personalization, and preparation, showing how thoughtful outreach leads to stronger connections and real opportunities.

Research Techniques for Reaching Executives (00:15:13 - 00:17:24)

· Kim explains how students can use LinkedIn, company resources, and in-depth questions to go beyond information easily found online.

Involving Industry Leaders in the Classroom (00:17:26 - 00:22:12)

· She highlights the value of advisory boards and guest speakers in providing mentorship, networking, and job opportunities for students.

Preparing Students for Real-World Sales Careers (00:22:13 - 00:26:02)

· Kim shares examples of how her outcomes-focused approach results in career opportunities and executive-level connections for students.

Key Lesson: Don’t Be Afraid to Aim Higher (00:24:02 - 00:26:07)

· She recounts a student’s interaction with a sales VP who encouraged them to reach out directly to the CEO, reinforcing the importance of aiming higher in professional ambitions.

“If you’re not prepared to have a proper conversation with a client, you’re doing both yourself and your customer a disservice.” – Kim Rugiero

Resources

Reach out to Kim Rugiero on LinkedIn, or send her an email at kim.ruggiero@asu.edu.

In this episode, we delve into how educators can actively prepare students for real-world sales challenges, moving beyond rote memorization and final exams. Rich Kuzmeski shares invaluable insights into experiential learning strategies that facilitate student success, enhancing both confidence and competency in the field of sales.

Creating Engaging Role Plays for Practical Learning

● Role plays designed to mirror real-life scenarios empower students to create their own scripts, fostering ownership and individual learning.

● Students research various industries thoroughly, refining their understanding and relevant questioning techniques necessary for success in sales.

● Structured role plays focus on the discovery call process, allowing students to practice asking impactful questions rather than simply pitching a product.

The Importance of Listening and Discovery in Sales

● Students often struggle with the fear of silence during sales calls, making it crucial to build their comfort with open-ended questioning and attentive listening.

● Emphasizing a 70/30 listening-to-talking ratio teaches students that effective selling is rooted in understanding customer needs rather than just presenting.

● By structuring prompts to encourage follow-up questions, students learn to drive conversations deeper, uncovering critical insights necessary for making meaningful connections.

Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom

● Participation in internal and external sales competitions provides students with hands-on experiences that translate classroom knowledge into actionable skills in real-world situations.

● Establishing connections with industry representatives and creating opportunities for networking prepares students for internships and jobs after graduation.

● Achievements in competitions bolster student resumes while enhancing the overall credibility of the sales program, attracting more prospective students and professionals to engage.

Homework Challenge or Action Steps

● Challenge students to design their own sales role play based on a chosen industry, incorporating both questions and anticipated answers to practice smooth dialogue.

● Encourage educators to implement experiential learning techniques, such as guest speakers and live events, to enrich the educational experience beyond textbooks.

"Be honest. It's way easier to remember the truth than it is to remember what you may or may not have made up." ● Rich Kuzmeki.

Resources

● Oklahoma State University Sales Center(https://business.okstate.edu/sales)

● Sales Competitions Overview(https://business.okstate.edu/sales/competitions)

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Credits

Produced by bluëmango | STUDIOS Music by SoundStripe. Thanks for tuning in!

Have you ever tried to create a courseware for a sales class and just felt like you had no clue what to do? Today, we’re going to share some of the mistakes that we made and how you can avoid them.

The Horrors of Starting a Sales Curriculum

· Sales leaders and professors are always stuck with one question when building their first curriculum: Where do you even start?

· How do you find that perfect balance between a traditional classroom or university learning style and sales, which is such an applied discipline?

· We both share our stories about developing our first sales curriculum for our college students.

· Our experience also helped us notice the mistakes other sales professors were making.

· The common course development mistakes we saw were: trying to cover too much content, creating too many unstructured assignments, and lacking an efficient grading system.

Four Steps to Building a Sales Curriculum

· Make sure you have a pen and paper ready. We go into the details of each of these steps and the resources that will help you build your sales curriculum.

1. Define Your Course’s Focus: You need to know what job role you’re preparing your students for. Are you teaching future entry-level sellers, Business Development Representatives (BDRs), Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), account managers, or something else?

· Narrowing this down will help you know what personal experiences you should share and what your core course subjects should be.

2. Choose Your Sales Process: Is there a specific process, methodology, or widely recognized industry resource that you use to structure your course? A logical progression is essential.

· Sales is a highly applied discipline, and most students taking an intro class don’t even know what professional selling really is. Throwing every possible approach or concept at them at once actually does more harm than good.

· Instead, picking a foundation—whether it’s a sales method like Challenger, SPIN, Sandler, or a structured process laid out in a well-regarded textbook—helps you guide students step by step. Each week or module builds on the last, creating continuity and a “map” students can follow.

3. Integrate Learning into the Real World: Consider how to bring the realities of sales into the classroom.

· Figure out what tools, scenarios, or voices you’re going to use to teach your students. For example, we created a simulation to go along with our textbook, designed assignments on how to use specific tools such as Apollo, and invited industry experts to share their knowledge with our students.

4. Make Grading Efficient for You: Design your grading and assignments so your students will know what’s expected. But also tailor it to how you can save time.

· Do this by using clear rubrics, integrating assignments, getting help from TAs, and leveraging automation when you can.

"You can't teach everything in one classroom." - BJ Allen.

“It’s tough being able to take 15 - 20 years of experience and give it all to a student. It’s not wise to teach them everything at once, as they won’t be able to absorb it all. They just need enough to get to the next step.” - Donald Kelly.

Resources

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